diff --git a/src/OpaqueVal.cc b/src/OpaqueVal.cc
index 9fb4d6d744..5c822f7fe5 100644
--- a/src/OpaqueVal.cc
+++ b/src/OpaqueVal.cc
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ IntrusivePtr<OpaqueVal> OpaqueVal::Unserialize(const broker::data& data)
 	return val;
 	}
 
-broker::expected<broker::data> OpaqueVal::SerializeType(BroType* t)
+broker::expected<broker::data> OpaqueVal::SerializeType(const IntrusivePtr<BroType>& t)
 	{
 	if ( t->InternalType() == TYPE_INTERNAL_ERROR )
 		return broker::ec::invalid_data;
@@ -818,7 +818,7 @@ broker::expected<broker::data> BloomFilterVal::DoSerialize() const
 
 	if ( type )
 		{
-		auto t = SerializeType(type.get());
+		auto t = SerializeType(type);
 		if ( ! t )
 			return broker::ec::invalid_data;
 
@@ -913,7 +913,7 @@ broker::expected<broker::data> CardinalityVal::DoSerialize() const
 
 	if ( type )
 		{
-		auto t = SerializeType(type.get());
+		auto t = SerializeType(type);
 		if ( ! t )
 			return broker::ec::invalid_data;
 
diff --git a/src/OpaqueVal.h b/src/OpaqueVal.h
index bcbe5f61c9..50a4e74ce9 100644
--- a/src/OpaqueVal.h
+++ b/src/OpaqueVal.h
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ protected:
 	 * Helper function for derived class that need to record a type
 	 * during serialization.
 	 */
-	static broker::expected<broker::data> SerializeType(BroType* t);
+	static broker::expected<broker::data> SerializeType(const IntrusivePtr<BroType>& t);
 
 	/**
 	 * Helper function for derived class that need to restore a type
diff --git a/src/probabilistic/Topk.cc b/src/probabilistic/Topk.cc
index 33857416f4..f0c55c2e64 100644
--- a/src/probabilistic/Topk.cc
+++ b/src/probabilistic/Topk.cc
@@ -408,7 +408,7 @@ broker::expected<broker::data> TopkVal::DoSerialize() const
 
 	if ( type )
 		{
-		auto t = SerializeType(type.get());
+		auto t = SerializeType(type);
 		if ( ! t )
 			return broker::ec::invalid_data;